Deborah

Today is Deborah's 2nd birthday. Birthdays are always a milestone, but this is a special one for a little girl who suffered severe malnutrition. She was almost 1 when she came to live with Mirtha and Yudel at our house. She did not sit or cry much, her skin was pale and she hardly had hair. The workers at the orphanage did not think she had much of an appetite so she didn't get much more than 2 bottles of milk per day.


Mirtha worked with her and found out she really was hungry. She started adding on kilos and developing and walked at 21 months. Now she is 2 and her personality is coming through. They all live at the orphanage now and she will always be Mirtha and Yudel's special girl.



Trying to figure out these new crocs.


Their new house at the orphanage. As soon as they get enough funds to finish the floors of the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom they will move in.



God is faithful!

Poverty

One thing I've learned well since we moved to Africa--poverty is a very complex issue.

I was thinking of the card game that we call Scum. You start the game with a President and Vice-President and a Scum and Vice-Scum. After dealing the cards, Scum gives his two best cards to the Pres. and Pres. gives his two worst cards to Scum. VP and VS trade one card each. It is possible to move from Scum to Pres. but it usually takes several games and it is a lot of work because the cards have literally been stacked against Scum. It is easier for Pres and VP to win and keep on winning because they have been given an advantage to start with.

This is how it is with poverty. The system of injustice has been stacked against the poor. It is possible to get out, but it takes a lot of work, a lot of encouragement, a lot of changes in the ways of thinking about things, and some breaks in order to get a good education.

Sometimes we can think that the poor just don't know how to handle the money they have. We can say there is a difference between being broke and being poor, and that difference is the way of thinking about money. We can say that poverty is not a lack of money, it is a lifestyle, or a curse. But poverty is also being trapped in a system. What can I do to help break the chains of injustice that keep people enslaved?

It is easy to see how the poor become poorer when they are trapped into low-paying jobs and inflation is rising. In December it is reported that inflation rose 3.48% in Moz. Prices always go up because of the holidays, but this is steeper than usual. We notice the differences almost every week when we go to buy groceries. For a long time a liter of boxed milk cost us between 25-30 MT. Yesterday I paid 60 MT ($1.80). Sugar (which is grown in Moz) has been right around 25 MT for a kilo. Now some shops are asking 38 MT. Apparently Brazil had a bad year so the price goes up worldwide. These are just examples of increases for all the basics such as flour, bread, rice, corn flour, etc. Beef has gone through the roof and a scrawny 1 kg chicken costs $4.80 or more.

So what do people do when they are one of the 10-15% who actually have a job such as a household helper and get paid a little more than 100 MT per day and a chicken costs 160 MT? They eat very little meat, and stick to xima (corn flour porridge) with some greens or tomatoes if they can afford them. They walk more because transportation costs are rising, they keep their kids home from school because they can't afford the uniforms and fees, and sometimes they take to the streets to join the riots because they are so desperate.

Then on the other hand we have mostly foreigners and the Mozambican rich who pay $2,000 for an apartment and up to $5,000 rent per month for a house. The poor get poorer and the rich continue to be funded by their organizations, governments and corporations who are willing to pay whatever it takes to keep up the lifestyle. The spiritual discipline of simple living and doing more with less becomes a challenge in a city like Maputo.

And I'm back to the beginning - poverty is complex and I don't have very many answers. Lord help me know how to make a lasting difference in people's lives. Help me to know what my part is today and to be obedient to You. Help me to care enough to give a hand up out of the sink hole of poverty, to work at long-term solutions and not only short-term fixes.

Our Week in Review

 This week Mozambique is in mourning over the death of artist, Malangatana. To tell the truth, I had not heard of him before, although he is apparently quite famous world over. I probably would still not know much about him except that our housemate fills us in every day on the details of his life, his wake, who was there, where they will bury him, etc. It has been the main topic at suppertime for several days and sometimes we have finished our meal and she has barely taken a bite because she is so busy telling us all about it. Actually, we learn a lot about the culture and what is happening in the news and the neighborhood through her. Now basically the whole town where he lived is camping out at his house to eat well for the next week.

 We are amazed at how much it has been raining this year. We have never experienced a true rainy season in the 6 years we’ve been here. It seems like every day or every other day we have at least one good shower. The crops should be great if it doesn’t flood, which is on everyone’s mind. They are afraid that the flood gates will be opened upstream, even to Zimbabwe and then Mozambique will suffer the consequences as they did in 2000. Today on the news they showed a mother who just gave birth to twins and went home to a flooded house. The only place she had for the babies was the kitchen table!

 We live in community within our house and then we live in greater community with the people in the flats above us. Steve has been getting to know them better as their drains on the outside of the building get clogged and affect us down below. Apparently one of them has a garbage disposal, plus they put a lot of grease down the sink so it’s been getting full really fast. Today, Steve had a show and tell right by the drain so we’ll see if that makes any difference.

 We also live in greater community with the apartment house right next to ours (20 feet away). Our bedrooms face the back side of the building. For a long time they had many little yippy dogs that would start a chorus of barking at all hours of the night and especially in the early morning. We felt bad for our visitors, (and for ourselves) when we couldn’t sleep! Well, wonder of wonders, the yippy dogs are gone. We’re not sure if the owners left as well or just the dogs, but we are very grateful for a good nights’ sleep.

 We’re starting to think Steve might have a wheat allergy so he’s taking a break from all wheat until we figure out what’s going on. Now the experiments begin with cassava flour, lentil and rice flour and who knows what else. Thankfully this house came with a grinder which we are starting to use more diligently.

 This weekend we had visitors - a couple from Swaziland who is starting to work with Ancient Paths Seminars there. We have been asked to mentor them, and will be traveling to Swazi in the next months to do some seminars with them. We had a great time getting to know them a bit. The wife even said she would get me some non-wheat recipes. She owns a health food store/coffee shop.

That's a bit of what's been happening with us on this side of the world this week. Who knows what next week will bring!

Pictures of Christmas and New Year’s

We started out in the Chokwe office with Dr. Pieter and the WR accountant. Love the hat. He really is a farmer at heart.




We drove to Mucatine together and saw the agricultural project.
The papayas are almost done producing. We got 5 nice, juicy red ones.



Leonor, one of the association members, watering tomato seedlings in the nursery.


These guys were in the river when we went to look at the pump.
They’re pretty awesome when they open their mouths!














The view from the porch of the house we stayed in, where I spent a lot of time reading. Since we can’t be with family we take the second best option and enjoy the beach!



The Indian Ocean can be pretty wild, and watch out for the rip tides. Because of the rocks by the shore, we don’t go in too far.



One day there were big, dead jelly fish all over the shore.
A storm brought them in, is our guess.


When the tide goes out there are many different sand designs.





Cool moth and a shot from last year of the hundreds of bats that come out of the attic at dusk. They're still there!















Christmas Dinner. First time to have a turkey in Moz!


New Year’s Eve cookout with the other missionaries who stayed in the downstairs apt. We had fun with them, playing Scrabble and Dutch Blitz, watching movies and talking.


Here's a last shot after we walked on the windy beach. Our friend thought it was a "cool Harley look"! I like it because we look so relaxed and happy.


That’s our last two weeks in a picture or two. We hope you have all had good
end of the year times as well. We are blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Happy New Year!